Ignoring of the Maha Sangha and the Public

The fact that the Mahanayakes of all four Nikayas, the Maha Sangha together with the general public opposed the opening of casinos and despite this, the fact that the government went ahead and passed the gazette, is a clear indication of the political clout that these casino businessmen possess. Such is the magnitude of their political clout.

This issue has many facets. The first is that there is a provision within the constitution that clearly specifies the rulers to have their foundation in the morality of the people. This is found within the constitution of the country itself.

Casinos are an internationally operated operation which is entirely based on gambling. The fact remains that although, not on a grand scale, there are a few casinos that are being operated in the country, with or without licences.

But the existing casinos become those which could be ignored in comparison to the proposed casinos.

Casinos in effect are against the traditions and the morals of the masses of this country.

The first thing is that it is a gamble, secondly with casinos of this sort a necessary implication is that an international prostitution ring would make inroads to the country, together with this small fire arms would also be brought, together with drugs because these are certain by-products of the casino industry.

Industries of this sort also most certainly pave the way for money laundering where ‘black money’ is made ‘white’. This sort of thing happens even today. Human smuggling and other issues are also by-products of the casino industry. Therefore there is going to be massive moral implications to the Sri Lankan society as a result of this.